Music For the Prankster Soul
by FebruaryBeauty
Summary: Travis Stoll does not believe in love. He's decided that there's no need for it and it only screws up all the good things in life. With his brother lost in love, Travis just can't see what's so great about it. But he'll meet a girl who will change his perspective on love and himself. That is if he can save her and stop her from beating him at his own game
1. Chapter 1

Travis POV

It's said that when you see the one for you, the one person you're supposed to be with, you'll just know? That you'll feel that spark when you touch them, and your eyes will see nothing but them? How the angels will sing, and there will be a glow around them? Well,that's the type of crap the Aphrodite girls feed on. Which is exactly why it's so easy to prank them. They're idiots for believing that. Now, I'm no genius either, but I for one will never believe in love at first sight. Truth be told, I don't really believe in love at all. And I don't think I ever will. All it does is poison people and get in the way of more important things. Just ask my brother, Connor. He hasn't pulled a prank, conned anyone, picked any locks, or stolen anything in almost two weeks. Why? The head of the Demeter cabin, Katie Gardner is why. They've been dating for a couple months now and Connor has absolutely lost it.

"Connor, I really think we can pull an even better prank on the Demeter cabin. One even better than the chocolate bunnies on their roof. But we've gotta start brain storming. You got any ideas?" I made a desperate attempt at trying to get him to scheme with me.

"Travis, I told you. No, more messing with the Demeter cabin. You know I can't help you."

"What do you mean you can't help me? This is a free country, Connor. You can do whatever you please."

"First off, Katie would kill me. And next off, I promised her I wouldn't pull anymore pranks-"

"YOU PROMISED HER WHAT? I think you're sick. You must have the flu or something. Maybe she drugged you! Those Demeter kids got all sorts of weird plants."

I gripped his shoulders, and shook him.

"Hey! Stop shaking me! I promised not to pull anymore pranks on _her_ cabin. That's it! I'm not just gonna give it up completely! Katie hasn't done anything wrong, she's definitely didn't drug me."

"Didn't do anything wrong? Man, she's brainwashed you!" I began to pace around the room.

"Travis, the only thing Katie has done is make me like her. That's all. Now I have to go meet her for lunch."

"Meet her for lunch? Lunch isn't for another hour."

"We're going on a picnic."

I stared at him for a moment before bringing my hand across his face, "SNAP OUT OF IT MAN!"

"Stop attacking me!" He shouted at me.

"I will stop once you realize you've lost your mind! This girl is changing you, _ruining you._ Since when do we go on picnics, Connor?"

Pushing me away, he walked over to the door and opened it, "I have not _lost_ my mind, Travis. But maybe you have. You know maybe you should find a girlfriend or a boyfriend, _something_ to keep you preoccupied besides the same old Hermes kid shit we're use to. Or just do the same old Hermes kid shit, I don't care but don't shit on my happiness. And you know what, I _like_ picnics. " Walking out, he slammed the door closed.

"I was really hoping that would've gone better, "I sighed, "This just can't be happening though! How could he have fallen in love with Katie Gardner! She's tried to kill us before! I mean, yeah, we put chocolate bunnies on their grass roof...and set off a paint bomb in her cabin but who doesn't love chocolate bunnies!"

"I think you're just upset he's not hanging out with you anymore," My sister Candace started talking to me from one of the top bunks.

I looked up at her and shook my head,"That's crazy talk, Candace."

"Is it really, though? You guys are or _were_ inseparable. None of us have ever seen you really hang out with anyone else that you weren't trying to pickpocket."

"That's it! Making some money will take my mind off of this whole mess." I knelt down and pulled a case of soda and a case of candy from under mine and Connor's bunk. "Thanks little sister!" I said before heading towards the door.

"That's not what I meant, Travis!" I could hear Candace shouting out to me as I left. Once out of the cabin, I made my way towards some of the other cabins. First the Aphrodite cabin, I could always get them to buy chocolate and then the Nike cabin. I continued around camp ,selling a couple sodas and some boxes of candy before I started heading back to my cabin. On the way I spotted, a group of Apollo kids sitting in front of their cabin. As soon as they saw me nearing, I could hear several of them let out an exasperated sigh, "What do you want now, Travis? And where's your partner in crime?"

"Connor's a little busy..."

"He ditched you for Katie, didn't he?" I heardA girl snicker.

I looked over at her, frowning. She had dark skin and glasses. Her black hair was shaved into an undercut and it looked like she had shaved a sun symbol into the side. She was tuning a guitar and it looked as if she hadn't even looked at me when she had made fun of my current situation.

"Yeah...Thanks for sharing that with everyone," I stared at her for a moment waiting for her to tell me her name.

She looked at me over the edge of her glasses and gave me a smile,"Alyssa."

I had seen Alyssa a few times before. Mostly at meals when all of the cabins were forced to be in the same place together at the same time. We had never said anything to each other but I assumed she knew who I was since she knew why Connor wasn't around.

"Well then, Alyssa, thank you just _so much_ for pointing that out...Anyway, you guys wanna buy a soda or some candy?"

"How much are you selling it for?"

"6 drachmas for soda, 4 for candy."

"I think you should reword your question then. Maybe ask, 'do you want to be ripped off?' instead."

"I might buy something, but it depends," Alyssa put her guitar down and shuffled through her pockets, "Do you have dr pepper?"

"Yeah,"I muttered still annoyed at her for reminding me of my current situation with my brother. I pulled out the bottle and handed it to her. She handed me the six drachmas and in the process, some how dropped the bottle.

"Crap, sorry, I'm kinda clumsy,"She sighed.

I nodded before bending down and picking it up for her. I kept thinking of just how much Connor had completely changed. We were born playing pranks and pickpocketing people. Now he was out on picnics with Katie Gardner, of all people. "You're not gonna drop it again, right?" I said handing it back to her.

She smiled big and shook her head before sitting back down,"Thanks Travis."

"...why are you smiling so big? I just picked up the bottle you dropped. Not a big deal"

"It's nothing really." She shook her head again and opened her soda, "I just really love dr pepper. It's my favorite." Around her, her siblings just stared at her and then at me as if we had switched heads.

"...You guys are acting just as weird as Connor, and I'm pretty sure he's been brainwashed or drugged." I walked away still worrying about Connor's sanity and now I was starting to worry about the sanity of the Apollo kids, they seemed kinda off too.

Once inside my cabin I checked my box to see how much I had made. I had sold a few things so I had to have made a decent profit... But,there was nothing...I stared at the empty drachma box in disbelief.

"This can't be..."

"Travis, you alright?" A few of my siblings asked.

Ignoring them, I dumped my inventory onto the floor and looked at the list of everything I had sold and to who.

"Okay, I know for fact I had all of the money before I went to the...no f-ing way..."

"Travis, what's wrong?" Candace asked, I could hear the concern in her voice.

"I'll be right back..."

Walking out of my cabin in disbelief, I shuffled over to the Apollo cabin. I knocked on the door, trying to figure out how I could've let this happen.

Will Solace opened the door, "Hey Travis, what's up?"

"...I'm coming inside," I told him before pushing past him and walking in.

"Something wrong, Travis?" Will asked, it sounded like he was trying to stifle laughter

"Yeah, something wrong,Travis?" I heard Alyssa's voice come from one of the upper bunks.

She peered over and jumped down from her bunk , still drinking her soda.

"Uh yeah! there's a big problem! You..." I sighed," pickpocketed me."

And suddenly it became very quiet. Alyssa smirked as I glared at her. She knew exactly what she had done.

"Oh no, you mean to tell me, I, a simple child of Apollo, pickpocketed you, a child of Hermes? Does that sound right to you, Travis?" She was giving me the exact same smirk Connor and I had after we had pulled off a really great prank.

I stared at the floor and mumbled,"I guess that's what happened...but that doesn't-"

"Ah, you wanna say it a little louder for me so all my siblings can hear?"

"I, Travis Stoll, got pick pocketed! by a freaking child of Apollo. There, are you happy?"

She nodded,"Now that I've got that, here." She climbed back up to her bunk and threw a plastic zip bag of drachmas at me.

"You're just giving it back to me?" I asked, snatching it out of the air.

She nodded,"Yeah, I don't need it. I just wanted to prove that I could do it."

Will laughed,"Well Travis,I think you might be losing your touch."


	2. Chapter 2

A week had passed since for the first time in my entire life, I, the thief, had been thefted from. It was the one of the easiest tricks in the book, no work on her part, just wait until I had distracted myself and forgot. Easiest trick and yet I fell for it.

"Hey,Travis, are you alright?" Connor stared at me," You seem pretty out of it."

"Connor, do you know what happens when a pair loses a partner crime?"

Connor sighed,"Travis, please not this bullshit again."

"But really, do you know what happens? The other person starts losing their touch,Connor!"

Connor shook his head,"Travis what the are you talking about?"

"I-I got pickedpocket last week," I muttered, slumping backwards onto my bed.

At that point the entire cabin turned to look at me,"You what?!"

Connor stared at me, eyes wide,"You? You of all people on this planet? Got pickpocketed? Someone got away with stealing from you?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, " It's even worst...she got away without paying me and then she stole everything I made that day."

"Are you kidding me, Travis?"

"Hey! Don't start coming at me, Mr. I like going on picnics. At least I'm still trying to do business, still pranking people. You're just lying around, getting old! Going on those damn picnics."

"No, Travis. I'm looking towards the future. We can't just con people forever. That was the only thing for us. We never did anything else, never had proper interactions. The war made me think, we have to have something else to care about, Travis. So no, I might not be as great of a con artist and prankster I was before but now I'm a loving boyfriend."

" Loving boyfriend..." I scoffed,"whatever Connor, go ahead and have fun playing house with the Demeter cabin. Just don't get mad if you get paint bombed."

He rolled his eyes,"Grow the hell up,Travis. We're eighteen, not ten." And then he left.

I sighed, I don't think Connor had ever scolded me so much in our lives than he had in the last two weeks.

"You know he has a point," My sister Candace mumbled.

I shook my head," No Candace, he doesn't. He's talking out of his love sick ass."

"That may be true but either way he really is right. You can't live off of conning people forever and you really only talk to us. Maybe, I dunno, maybe you should get a girlfriend too? Or a boyfriend,up to you."

"I don't need to get anything..."

"Whatever you say, Travis. Now who is this girl you say stole from you?"

I shivered. I hated just thinking that someone had actually beat me at my own game," Her name's Alyssa...Apollo kid. The one with the sun shaved into the side of her head...She got me cause I wasn't paying attention. This whole Connor thing has me pretty messed up."

Before Candace could reply, a loud whirring started going off in the cabin.

"What is that?"

"I'm not really sure, it sounds like a- out of the cabin now! It's a paint bomb!"I shouted

With that my entire cabin poured out the front door... and was met with balloons full of bright yellow paint.

"Holy shit!" I tried to duck to avoid being hit but paint was exploding everywhere.

I could hear all of my half siblings yelling and trying to avoid the colorful mess.

"Hey Travis!" I heard someone call me from the cabin.

Standing on the roof of my cabin was four kids that I immediately recognized from the Apollo cabin, perched at the front of them was the little shit herself,Alyssa.

"Did you do this?!" I yelled

"Oh, I haven't done anything yet. You might want to look up!"

As I did, my eyes grew. Partially in amazement and partially in fear. Hanging over us and anchored to the Apollo cabin was a giant yellow balloon. I could just barely see the paint spilling out the top.

"How did you-" I didn't even get the question put before I heard the whizzing of an arrow through the air, the bursting of a balloon and gallons upon gallons of paint raining down on me and my siblings.

I could hear gasps from other cabins but I could really only see bright yellow from the paint. Im gonna be sneezing paint for years, I just know it.

"What the hell happened?" Connor;s voice came through the noise of the crowd,"Travis did you accidentally set off 500 paint bombs?" Then I felt my eyes being wiped off so I could see him.

"Me?! This one was not on me. The Apollo kids did this!"

Connor stared at me before breaking out into laughter," The Apollo kids? Did this to you guys? Okay but no really what happened?"

"What is funny, Connor! We're gonna be shitting paint!"

"Wait you're serious? The Apollo kids got you guys this bad? How?"

" Oh gods, Connor it was amazing. Somehow s-she rigged a giant balloon over our heads and it was held by rope or something attached to their cabin. A single arrow to the surface and we were drowning in it."

"She? Who's she Travis?"

"Alyssa."

"Is that the same girl who got out of paying and stole from you?"

I nodded," I just want to know how they set that up so easily...That balloon was huge, heavy..."

" That's the second time she's gotten you. Do you think she's targeting Hermes kids? A prank war or something?"

" I have no clue what it is she wants but I think it's time for payback."

"I dunno man, they got you real bad. What are you gonna do?"

I sighed,"I-I don't know yet but it's gonna be big. Bigger than this mess! All she did was stain the grass yellow-"

"Stained us yellow too..."One of my siblings snickered behind me.

"Shut up! We've got to get them back! Hermes kids, hit the showers and round up! We've got work to do..."

"I guess I can help you with this one,"Connor offered.

I smiled," Good to have you back."

*** Two Days Later***

"Alright Candace, you're gonna hit here,"I said pointing to one of the windows on our map of the Apollo cabin.

"Got it."

"Andrew, you're gonna make sure the hose is in place"

"Check."

"Now, this prank is extremely important however! Whatever you do, make sure the Apollo offering bowl does not get knocked down. This prank won't matter if Apollo roasts us after. Okay Hermes kids! We have been washing paint out of our ears for TWO DAYS! Who's ready for some revenge!"

Their yells echoed through the cabin.

"At sun down, we move! Break!"

Our cabin meeting disbanded and we continued our individual preparations for our prank. Everything had to run smoothly or we'd be in a whole lot of trouble.

After dinner finished and everyone went back to their cabins, we put our plan into action.

"Alright guys lets do this..."

Tiptoeing around the Apollo cabin, Connor and I strung up 5 massive bags of feathers.

"Alright Andrew, pull in the hose," Candace whispered kneeling under the open cabin window. Once Andrew brought it to her, she quietly propped it up against the sill.

"Everyone ready?"

Daniel gave me the thumbs up and showed me his bag of water balloons filled with syrup.

"On 1, 3...2...1!"

Andrew turned the knob on the faucet, pumping gallons of maple syrup through the hose and into the Apollo cabin. Immediately we heard screams.

"Yes!" Connor and I high fived.

"Is he fucking insane! We have to get her out!"

My eyebrows furrowed. That wasn't the response I was expecting, I was expecting more of them trying to leave.

The first person out of the cabin was Will Solace who was immediately pelted with syrup balloons. But instead of being disgusted like expected, he started shouting,"Where are they!" All of our siblings pointed to me and Connor.

Will, dripping syrup stomped over to us and lifted me off the ground. I struggled and tried to get him to go but his syrupy grip on my shirt was solid.

"She's allergic to maple you idiot! You're gonna kill her!" Then he threw me on the ground.

"Wait what?" I stuttered.

"Was I mumbling?! Alyssa's allergic to maple!"

My eyes widened,"Shit!"

My pranks were always meant to be harmless. Were people mad? Of course! But I didn't want to kill anyone!

"Guys! Stand down!...I have to fix this..."

I ran to the door of the cabin and stared at the mess inside. 4 inches worth of syrup covered the floor and there were Apollo kids desperately trying to keep off the ground. "Connor! Run and tell Andrew to turn off the hose!"

I started wading through sticky cabin. Looking at the top of the bunks, I searched for Alyssa. I found her by the sun symbol on the side of her head.. She was breathing heavy and glaring at me.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know, I swear... But I'm gonna get you out of here okay? I promise."

"Why should she trust you? You could drop her in on purpose! We all know this was to get back at her!"

I shook my head,"I would never. My pranks aren't meant to hurt anyone. It was supposed to be harmless... Now I have to fix it. But if we don't hurry,there'll be too much to move through. I don't know how long it's gonna be before the hose turns off..."

Alyssa's glare softened,"O-okay... You have to catch me, alright?"

I nodded,"I will."

She began climbing down from the very top bunk and when I said go, she dropped into my arms.

"Alright now I'm just gonna walk through the cabin and take you outside."

She wrapped her arms around my neck and nodded. Trudging through the mess, I heard the hose finally turn off. Once outside, I gave Alyssa to Candace,"I don't think any of it touched her, but just take her to the infirmary just in case."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Then I heard a strange sound, like glass wobbling on a table. I then heard the rest of the Apollo kids start screaming.

I ran back up to the door and saw their offering bowl swirling around on the podium.

"Oh come on! I just saved her!"

"Yeah, after almost killing her in the first place."

I sighed,"It was an accident! But I know...gotta fix this too..." I trudged through the cabin again, trying to run as best I could and then I tripped and slid. It was almost like a movie. I slid, the bowl tipped off the podium and all I needed was for it to landed in my hands...

And then I heard the bowl shatter.

"Shit."


	3. Chapter 3

The big house was not a generally fun place but it definitely didn't get better when you were you being scolded.

"Travis, we usually look past your insane pranks but you could've seriously injured one of the Apollo children and you broke an offering bowl!" Chiron went on and on.

" I could have, but I saved her! And I tried to save the bowl too..."

"It doesn't matter, Travis. You better hope Apollo , or his kids, or at least the poor girl you almost killed! forgive you. Or you'll be on Pegasus stable duty for six months."

I gagged," Got it, Chiron."

"Good! Now I suggest you go visit Alyssa in the infirmary. It's the least you could do."

I nodded," Will do."

I had really done it this time. As I walked to the infirmary I started thinking about what Connor had been going on about. Obviously, since he had started dating Katie, I had definitely gotten worse at pranks and selling. Maybe he was the brains behind our biggest schemes. If I had nothing else, what was I going to do? I knew I couldn't do this forever but, what else could I do?

Walking into the infirmary, I ran into Will.

"What are you doing here, Stoll?"

"Chiron said I should come check on Alyssa. I mean no harm."

"You said you meant no harm last night too but my sister could have died."

I stared at the floor,"Yeah, I know, and I'm really sorry. I'm being completely serious though, I'm only here to check on her. No pranks, no selling, nothing."

"...alright Stoll, but if she tells me you did anything, you're dead."

I nodded and gulped, remembering when he picked me up the night before.

He pushed past me and I walked through the infirmary until I found Alyssa sitting up in one of the beds.

"Hey Travis, what's up?" She smiled at me.

Not exactly what I was expecting considered she was here because of me.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

She shrugged,"I'm alright. I have quite the rash on my arms and legs from exposure but that's about it ! Oh and thanks for the Dr Pepper." She nudged her head towards an empty bottle soda bottle next to a note that read,'Sorry about last night. I know it's your favorite so I hope it helps- Travis.'

"But I d- you're welcome, I guess. I really am sorry about last night."

She sat up and shook her head,"Travis, it's alright. I'm fine. And if you had just used liquid craft glue instead, that prank would've been genius."

I nodded, staring down at the floor,"Don't know why I didn't do that in the first place.." The more I thought about last night and just how much danger I had put someone in, the more interested I became in the patterns on the wood.

She started getting up,"They said I'm fine and can head out whenever I'm ready." She started walking towards me," and even though you did cause it in the first place...Thanks for saving me." Then she stood on her toes and pressed her lips against my cheek before heading towards the infirmary doors.

I stared at her, mostly in shock, as she walked out.

"Oh and Travis?" She turned back to look at me.

"Um, yeah Alyssa?"

"You might have had a little bit of a set back with this one but I completely understand what you were doing. And I accept your declaration of a prank war. It is so on." And then she left.

"What in all of Hades just happened?"

I heard Connor's voice from behind me "I think she kissed you. And she took your prank fail as a challenge to a prank war...but she definitely kissed you."

I whipped around, slightly startled,"It was just like a cheek kiss though. It's probably part of her war tactics... were you spying on me?"

Connor shrugged," No, were you doing things worth spying on? And really I was just here to see how she was doing. But you know maybe she likes you."

I rolled my eyes,"There you go again with this girlfriend shit."

"Hey I didn't say _anything_ about dating her. All I said was maybe she likes you. And really I don't know. Maybe you're right and she just wants complete and utter prank annihilation."

"What else would it be? I almost got her killed; I doubt she likes me after that... Oh, random question did you send her a dr pepper as an apology from me?"

He shook his head,"Nah, that wasn't me. But whoever did probably saved your ass. She definitely seems to have forgiven you."

I nodded,"Yeah, one less person to convince. If they don't forgive me, I'm on stable duty."

Connor shuddered,"Gross... Well good luck with that. My punishment is helping them find items to forge a new offering bowl."

"Why'd you get an easy one!"

"The prank was your brain child remember!" He laughed, walking out of the infirmary.

I sighed and shook my head,"Guess this is a war now..."

The next couple days actually passed by pretty uneventful. I had convinced most of the Apollo kids to forgive me, narrowly escaping stable duty. The only one who really hadn't forgiven me was Will. Every time he looked at me he looked as if he was gonna tear off my head. I guess I could understand, I was making being the head of the Apollo cabin kinda difficult, but still.

I was to trying catch up on some sleep when I was awoken by something hitting me in the face.

I signed,"Alright, guys I'm all for playing ball in the cabin but I'm trying to sleep." I complained before throwing the yellow plastic ball in the direction I assumed it had come from and laying back down... But then I was immediately hit with two more. "Guys! Come on! Just go outside!"

"Travis it's really not us!" My siblings chorused.

"If it's not you guys than where is it coming from? Hm?"

As I said that a face popped into the window, Alyssa's face. Her eyes widened as she saw me but then she yelled," NOW!"

Red, blue, yellow, and green plastic balls began filling the cabin.

"Are you kidding?!" Candace yelled.

I laughed,"oh right! We've been challenged to a prank war!"

I could vaguely see the Apollo kids through the window as they kept throwing more and more balls into the cabin. Slowly, while also deflecting balls away with my hand, I made my over to the window. They were all standing within reach from the window, laughing as they turned my cabin into a giant ball pit.

"Hey Apollo kids!" They jumped, turning to face me.

"Hey Travis!" Alyssa smirked,"what's up?"

"I was just thinking, how can I repay you guys from giving us this amazing ball pit that will never get cleaned up! And then it hit me, the pit is fine! Why don't you join us!" I shouted, leaning out the window, grabbing Alyssa's hands and pulling her inside.

She screamed being pulled in and when she fell into the pit with me. After that, there were Apollo kids tumbling in through the window one after another. That's when an all out ball pit fight broke out. Throwing, pushing, a giant plastic battle royale.

"Nice try, Alyssa. This is more of a party than a prank,"I laughed.

She ducked,avoiding a red ball to the head,"But isn't that the best part of a good prank? Both the pranker and the pranked having fun and laughing about it?"

I had never really thought about pranks that way. I usually just pulled pranks that were funny to me and never really asked if the people being pranked were going to enjoy it. Nine times out of ten they didn't and they were more annoyed or mad about it than anything else.

"I-I guess your right!"

She smiled,"Your move Stoll! Your move! Better be good!"

She was right. I now had a new outlook on how pranks could work and my mind was running wild. My next prank was going to be a great one. And it was gonna be fun for both the pranking cabin and the cabin being pranked.

* * *

"Travis, have you lost your mind? I thought we agreed pumping anything to the Apollo cabin is a bad idea!" Candace was shouting at me about my plans for the next prank.

"Okay we agreed maple syrup was a bad idea. Now water is a different story and we're not really pumping the water into the cabin, were pumping it into the mat." I grinned as I explained how this prank was going to be leaps and bounds better than the last.

"Which you're going to roll through the window of the cabin and out their front door?"

"Exactly."

"You really have lost it."

"Not at all! It's gonna be fun! Alyssa said that the best pranks are ones that are fun for everyone involved. We'll have a good laugh and everyone will enjoy it!"

Andrew stared at me in disbelief,"You're taking prank advice from a child of Apollo. Not just any child of Apollo but _her_?"

"You know very well why he's taking her advice,"Connor added his two cents from his bunk above mine.

"Because it's genius? She has a point, why wouldn't pranks be enjoyable for both parties? " I was already becoming agitated.

"Or it's because you like her," Candace giggled.

"I do not, I barely know her."

"That may be true, but you like how she does the one thing you know you're good at, pranking. " Connor jumped down from his bunk.

"That doesn't mean anything beside the fact that she's good at pranks."

"She acts like you. And you like it."

"I do not!"

"Fine! So defensive," Connor snickered at me.

"You're a douche, you know that?"

"Just telling you the truth. And I'm not, I think I'd know since I do have a girlfriend."

" That just means you're whipped," I argued.

"Means I'm happy, Travis."

"Oh stuff it, Alyssa's just good at pranks and that's cool. About time I had a worthy opponent for a prank war"

"If you say so Travis, if you say so."


	4. Chapter 4

" Alright, this prank is fool proof."

"You came up with it so that can't possibly be true," Katie muttered from Connor's bunk.

I sighed in annoyance," Does your girlfriend have to be here? And if she does, can she keep her snippy comments to herself?"

"We're leaving soon, calm down," Connor said ignoring both of my questions.

"Anyway, Andrew again you're in charge of the hose. Daniel, you're gonna open the front door. Becca, you're gonna pull it through. Everyone else you're on balloon duty."

"These balloons are full of water this time, right? Not gonna kill anyone today?" Katie laughed at me.

"Hey! It was an accident! I would never hurt her on purpose..."

"Awww," Connor snickered.

"Shut up!"

I was really starting to become sick of him and everyone else trying to tell me that I liked Alyssa. How were they gonna tell me how I felt?

"So we do this an hour after lunch?" Candace asked

"Right, now everyone come prepared. This one's gonna be great."

"Alright, everyone in position?"

I got the thumbs up signal from everyone and smiled," Alright, let's do this."

The windows were always the easiest way to prank the Apollo kids, they never closed them. But the back window was a prime spot, you could see everything.

I set up the mat on the window sill and pushed it so it would begin to unroll. I started hearing the concerns of the confused Apollo kids.

"A big blue mat? I thought Travis was better than that..."

I heard a gasp and then,"Guys! Get into a swimsuit!"

"What why?"

I didn't bother listening to the rest, they had figured it out. Before their conversation continued, Daniel pulled open their front door and pulled the rest of the mat through just in time for Andrew to turn on the water.

"It's a Slip & Slide!"

I ran to the front of the cabin to see Apollo kids barreling out of their cabin, dripping wet and laughing. Right away, my siblings threw water balloons at everyone as they slid down. Even Will seemed to be having fun.

I heard Alyssa shout from inside,"My turn!" She slid down and shrieked in I think excitement as she got pelted with water balloons. As she was getting up, I couldn't help but stare for a little bit.

I had never really looked at Alyssa in the way my siblings assumed I had been. Now that she was wearing a bikini, it was kind of hard not to. Her dark skin seemed to shine in the sun and had what I considered a nice body. I guess things like that we're a bit harder to notice when everyone's always wearing the same orange t-shirt.

"Travis!" Her voice broke my train of thought," You all look ready to use it, so are you guys gonna join us or not?"

My siblings and I all ran into the Apollo cabin, taking turns sliding down. At some point, we all stopped sliding and just started throwing the water balloons at each other.

Within an hour all the balloons had been exploded and we were all exhausted and just laying in the wet grass.

"Your best one yet if I say so myself,"Alyssa laughed.

"Well, it's really my only successful one in this prank war so far..."

"Don't worry you'll have another chance. I got a big one planned for the next one."

I started to wonder if this was what all my friendships were going to be like. Yeah, I'm friends with Percy and a few others but we're not like close or anything. Are all of my "close" friendships gonna be a back and forth of just pranks and trying to one-up each other? I really don't want that to be it...

"Hey Alyssa?"

"Yeah Travis?"

"Do you know how to play Poker?"

"Hmm, yes I do. And if you're asking if I wanna play with you, I'm gonna have to pass."

My heart sunk a bit.

"Nothing against you but I wouldn't want you or any of your siblings to lose any money to me,"She snickered.

"Oh! So you're saying you could beat me, me of all people AND other kids of the god of the thieves in poker? Is that a challenge?"

She rolled over and started standing up,"Depends, are you accepting a challenge?"

I immediately jumped up,"You're on!" I spit into my hand and held it out for her.

"Umm.." She stared at it for awhile before sighing, spitting into hers and shaking my hand.

"Gross Alyssa! Don't touch anything in the cabin for at least a week!"

She rolled her eyes,"Tomorrow afternoon sound good?"

Without thinking, the words,"It's a date." came out of my mouth.

She nodded,"A _date_. Now are you gonna help clean up the slip and slide or is my cabin getting stuck with the clean up this time?"

"My cabin is still 40% ball pit."

"Right, gotcha. Apollo cabin! We're on clean up this time. Let's go!"

"Hermes kids round up! See ya later, Alyssa."

"See ya at dinner, Travis."

I started heading to the cabin when I heard Will calling me.

"Travis!"

I tried to think back to the last few days to see if I had done anything that would make him want to kill me. For a kid the same size as me, Will was really starting to scare me. Coming up with nothing, I turned around to see him walking towards me.

"Hey there, Will. What's up?"

"What is with your new obsession with my sister?"

I started at him confused,"I'm not obsessed with your sister. We're friends...I think?"

"Alright but a slip and slide in our cabin, inviting her to poker? What game are you playing, Stoll?"

"I'm not playing any games. I'm just being friendly, Will. You should try it some time."

"Whatever Travis, just stay away from her. Whatever it is you're doing, cut it out."

I sighed. Will was starting to piss me off." And if I don't stop hanging out with your sister, what are you gonna do? Have your boyfriend summon the dead to fight me? Hm? Give me a break, Will."

He began to blush,"Leave him out of this! And leave my sister alone. Alright?"

I gave him a sarcastic thumbs up and turned back towards my cabin.

"Leave my sister alone, blah blah,"I mocked him walking into the cabin.

Connor was sitting on my bed, smirking.

"Dude you're covered in wet grass and dirt, the least you could do is sit on your own bed."

"So you've got a date?"

I rolled my eyes,"She's just coming here to play poker against us and probably Candace and Aidan in poker. It's not an actual date."

"Then why'd you say it's a date."

"I don't know, it's a thing people say."

"Mhm, or maybe you want it to be a date."

"Here we go again. One-I don't like her that way! Two- even if I did, Will told me to stay away from her."

"And you're actually gonna listen to Will Solace?"

"Of course not! But that's not the point."

"And well, if you don't like her in that way, what do you like about her?"

"She's nice, she's good at pranking. I dunno if you saw it but anytime she got hit with a balloon, her face scrunched up and it was kinda cu-" I cut myself off.

"Oh, what was that last part?" He started laughing.

"It's kinda cu...be. Yeah it's cube."

"That doesn't make any sense, Travis."

"You think I don't know that!"

"Just admit it, Travis, you have a crush on her."

"Fuck off, Connor."

"Lying to yourself is bad you know."

"Get off my bed I'm going to sleep."

"You like her."

"No, I don't! I DON'T LIKE ALYSSA NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!"

It had been awhile since I had actually yelled at my brother. It was usually for his own safety but now I was just mad at him. Which was different from our current situation. Lately, it was really just him yelling at me.

"Fine, I'm going to see Katie. Maybe you should get your panties out of the tight ass twist they're in and calm down." He got up and walked out of the cabin.

I laid in my bed and closed my eyes. I started thinking about if I really did like Alyssa. Her bright smile, cute laugh, her dark hair, and the sun image shaved into the side. Then I started thinking about what it'd be like to have my arms around her right now. I covered my face with my hands and screamed, "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Told you!" Connor yelled from outside the door.


	5. Chapter 5

_I rolled over,wrapping my arms around Alyssa's waist and nuzzled her neck. "I love you princess," I whispered. She smiled and pressed her lips against mine. She snuggled close to me and laid her head against my chest,"I love you too, Trav-"_

I awoke breathing heavy and sat up quickly," You have got to be kidding me!"

"No Travis, you have got to be kidding me! Go back to bed!" One of my siblings threw their pillow at me.

I groaned," What time is it?"

"Three in the freaking morning. Now go to bed! We're tired of this."

This was the third time I had woken up in the same night. The two previous times were for the same reason except the other dreams had been a bit more graphic than I'm willing to admit.

"Having fucking wet dreams like I'm twelve..."

I laid back down and squeezed my eyes shut," You don't believe in love, Travis. You don't believe in this bullshit..."

***

"So when are you gonna ask out Alyssa?" Candace had been pestering me since Connor told her about my unfortunate revelation.

I sighed,"I'm not. I'm going to ignore this 'crush' or whatever the fuck it is until it dies. And once it does, I'm going to proceed with my life."

"You're gonna what?! You're not gonna ask her out and fall in love, be happy?!"

"Candace! Stop screaming! No, I'm not. And all 'love' has ever done is ruin things. And I am happy. I'm more than content with how things are, okay?"

"But-"

"I'm not listening,Candace. Oh! And can you help make the cabin look decent? Alyssa's coming over to verse us in poker."

"Right... Just gonna let it die... Sure...Oh! but Travis, I'll only help clean up if you answer one question for me."

I groaned,"What is it,Candace?"

She started giggling,"What was all that moaning in your sleep about?"

I sighed,"Good bye, Candace." Turning quickly, I left the cabin.

I hoped the next few nights would consist of empty thoughts or at least less distracting dreams. I just couldn't deal with it. I'm not one to like people like that and I don't mess with love or whatever it is. I couldn't even remember the last time I had had a wet dream but here I was having them at eighteen. Unbelievable.

"Travis?" I had been so deep in my thoughts I hadn't seen Alyssa walk up.

"Oh hey, Alyssa. What's up?"

"We're still on for poker later, right? Or are you gonna chicken out?" She smirked.

"Me? Chicken out of a game of poker that I know I'm gonna win? Never."

"Little cocky aren't we?"

"Not at all, simply telling the truth."

She laughed,"Alright then. We'll see just how true your truth is. See ya after lunch."

She ran off to catch up with her siblings who were headed for the shooting range. I saw Will look back at me and shake his head at me.

"So you gonna give into your minds fantasies or what?" Connor laughed running up behind me.

"Screw you, Connor."

"Your mind wants you to be scre-"

"Okay! I walked into that one but really back off. I'm not giving into anything. It'll go away soon."

"You better hope it does. My little flower heard Mason likes her."

"Did you just call Katie your 'little flower'?" I quickly pushed away the pang of jealousy that had struck my heart. Even if I didn't want to be with Alyssa, or anyone for that matter, the thought of her being with Mason nauseated me. "Well then Mason can have her. I'm not gonna date her,this crush is gonna die he can do what he wants. It doesn't concern me."

"Alright Travis, but you know how you get and what you do when you can't have something you want..."

"I get angry...and then I steal it..But"

"That's right,you go and you steal it but I don't think stealing a girl is as simple as pick pocketing."

"I don't want her though, Connor. He can have her!"

Connor stopped walking and put his arm out, stopping me as well," Look Travis, you say that about a whole lot of things until someone else has it but I don't think you understand that she's a person, not a toy." He was already waving his hands around like he usually did when he was angry or passionate about something," If you're sure this crush is gonna die, fine. Let it go then. But when she's with someone else, a son of Nike no less, who has never lost anything a day in his life, do NOT! get upset. Do not bring your sadness around me, do not bring it around our siblings, don't even bring it into the cabin because I will do nothing but tell you I told you so and every single one of our siblings will say the same."

I guess I deserved the snapping Connor was giving me since I had snapped at him about something that was he couldn't be more wrong about all of this. Mason Lancaster got whatever he wanted, he always won being a son of Nike and all, so it really didn't matter even if I did want to be with Alyssa. He was gonna have her because he wanted to have her.

"I won't! And you won't be able to tell me you told me so. You know, for the younger brother, you're being really pushy."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm sure my extra four minutes of development is why I know how to actually handle emotions instead of bury them like you do. Now come on, there's a chariot race in two weeks and we're still pretty wrecked from last time."

Connor had finally dropped the subject of my feelings ,or soon to be lack of feelings, for Alyssa. At least he had for now. If it was up to me he nor any of my other siblings would ever bring it up again. Unfortunately, I knew for them it was only a matter of time. But for now, our only focus wasn't which sibling liked who but how could we make our chariot better. Finally, something I understood and had actual answers for.

Lunch came pretty quickly, me and my siblings swarming our table. We usually all ate together but it wasn't uncommon for Connor to sit with Katie or any of my siblings girlfriends or boyfriends or whoever to sit with us. We had a larger table since we still took in any unclaimed demigods even if there were fewer of them now.

Sitting down with a slice of pizza,I looked over at the Nike table. Drusilla, Raina, Adnan, and Xander. But no Mason. My eyes trailed over to the Apollo table and there he was. I guess Katie had heard right because he was sitting awfully close to Alyssa. I wondered if Mason was Alyssa's type. He was a pale, tall,and lanky kid with blonde hair. He was taller than me by a few inches and definitely towered over her, even when they were just sitting. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"Travis?" Becca's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Are you alright? You've been staring at the Apollo table and gnawing on the same piece of crust for almost five minutes."

I shoved the pizza crust in my mouth and nodded," yeah I'm fine."

She stared at me for a moment before going back to talking to some of our siblings. I had gotten so caught up watching them that I hadn't even paid attention to if I was eating properly.

I didn't bother look back over to them to see if Alyssa had let him keep his arm around her or if she had pushed him away. Either way, I don't think I would've been happy with what I would've seen.

After lunch was over I headed back to my cabin. I set up the poker table, my bag of drachmas, and placed my personal deck of cards on the table. It was one of the only gifts I'd have ever gotten from my dad.

Once my siblings were back in the cabin I reminded them that the usual chaos of our cabin had to be kept to a minimum while the game was being played.

"Dude we get it, you're trying to impress your girlfriend. We'll be good."

I squeezed my eyes shut and calmed down so I wouldn't yell at them,"Okay look, she's not my girlfriend. Now please stop. She will be here in a moment and if you even mention her being my girlfriend or anything else about the idea of me liking her. You will regret it."

I think calm me scared them more than I would have if I had yelled.

They nodded and those of them that weren't going to playing went off to find something to do. Candace and Aidan pulled chairs up to the table.

"Does she really think she's going to beat one of us?"

"She doesn't have a chance. That's Travis's deck,"Aidan laughed.

Candace looked up at me and shook her head,"You're not even gonna beat her fair and square?"

"She challenged a group of Hermes kids. She knows what's she's getting into. And if she does win by some type of ridiculously strong hex. Then she deserves it."

The cabin door opened and Connor walked in with Alyssa...and Mason.

"Look who I found outside!" Connor laughed,"Oh and I said Mason could join us. It's better if we have more people anyway."

I glared at Connor," Are you fucking kidding me?" He didn't say anything but smiled.

"Alright...well everyone grab a seat. I'm gonna get Becca and she's gonna be our dealer. I'll sit to her left so I'll make the initial bet."

I headed to the back of the cabin and found Becca cuddling with her girlfriend.

"Hey Bec, don't mean to interrupt or anything. But we need someone to be the dealer and you know I don't trust too many people to hold my deck."

"Oh uh yeah sure. Rain,I'll be back in hopefully 20 minutes." She kissed Raina on the forehead and stood up.

"Oh and Raina, I'd stay here if you still don't want your brother knowing. He's apparently here to play poker with us.."

Raina nodded and mouthed a "Thank you" to me,"I'll stay here until he leaves. I don't mind if the game takes awhile."

Back at the table, I handed Becca the deck before sitting down and she shuffled it quickly.

She dealt each of us two cards, each of us picking them up.

"Alright, I'll put in six drachmas." I pushed them into the center of the table. Next to me was Mason. Because of my bet, he had to bet twelve drachmas. Becca then placed three cards face up. A 7 of diamonds, a 4 of spades, and an Ace of Diamonds.

Now the game would really begin. No one's faces looked desperate so they either all had good cards or were actually pretty decent at the game. I expected that from my siblings but not from Alyssa and Mason.

Alyssa put in ten drachmas. Pretty big bet for her first in the game. She had to have a good hand. Connor was after her, he put his hand up signaling a check. Candace put in four and Aidan added another six.

Becca then pulled the fourth card face up,"Ten of hearts."

"Fold." Aidan was out. He had a six of clubs and and a 2 of hearts

Connor signed," yeah, me too." He had a 2 of spades and 8 of clubs.

Alyssa, Mason,Candace, and I all made new bets. We just needed for Becca to turn the last card.

"Queen of clubs."

Alyssa and Becca folded.

Mason and I watched each other as we both revealed an Ace. His the clubs and mine the spade. He smirked and revealed his other card Jack of Spades.

I nodded and frowned,"Well...it's almost sad how good I am at this game." I placed down my second card, the king of hearts.

Mason's face dropped as I pulled the drachmas into my bag.

"I guess you were right. But don't worry, I'll beat you someday," Alyssa laughed.

Mason disgruntled at his loss seeing he never lost, stormed out of the cabin. Becca, seeming glad that he had finally left, walked back to Raina. Candace and Aidan went to their bunks and Connor headed out to see Katie but Alyssa stayed to help me pack up the table and chairs.

"Oh! And here's your deck back." She pulled what looked to be my personal deck from her pocket and handed it to me."I guess you're just good at what you do...and lucky. No enchantment needed."

I had actually won my game fair and square, against a kid born to win everything. I smiled,"See, I told you I was good. I knew I'd win."

She nodded,"This was a lot of fun. Thanks for having us and not rubbing it in Mason's face. Not that you had time to since he ran off immediately. I have to go check on him. See ya later,Travis."

"See ya, Alyssa."

I sat on my bunk,passing my bag of drachmas between my hands,"Fair and square...He doesn't even play fair... I won fair and square..." 


End file.
